Referendum on housing unlikely to take place before local elections
The Housing Minister said he is currently reviewing the report and that he would bring it to Cabinet with recommendations shortly.
Housing Minister Darragh O’Brien says that a referendum on a right to housing is unlikely to take place before the local and European elections next year.
Speaking in the Dáil on Thursday, Mr O’Brien said the Housing Commission has delivered a report on the proposed constitutional amendment surrounding a right to housing.
He said he is currently reviewing the report and that he would bring it to Cabinet with recommendations shortly.
“I expect in quite a short space of time to be able to bring the report and recommendations to Cabinet, along with my recommendations on where we go next in the process,” Mr O’Brien said, adding that the Oireachtas housing committee should have a role to play in moving on the report.
Proposals to enshrine the right to housing within the constitution were first started with the Government’s Housing for All plan, which committed to establishing the Housing Commission to look at the matter.
Asked when the referendum would be held, Mr O’Brien said that he is aware of the upcoming electoral cycle but he could not see it happening during next year’s local elections.
“Next June we will have local and European elections. I cannot see it happening on that day but who knows,” Mr O’Brien said.
The Housing Minister added that the Housing Commission could deliver a minority report on the referendum, but he will move ahead with the existing report first.
Sinn Féin’s housing spokesperson Eoin Ó Broin said that while the housing committee did have a role to play, he was concerned that Mr O’Brien would send the report to the committee as a “delaying tactic”.
Mr Ó Broin also said that concerns have been expressed about efforts from the Taoiseach’s office to “politically influence the work of the Housing Commission”.
Responding to the allegations, Mr O’Brien said that he has “no information” on any efforts to influence the commission.
"I absolutely doubt this has happened. No one has said it to me,” Mr O’Brien said.
“The Taoiseach has been very supportive of this process. The Taoiseach, the Tánaiste and the Minister [Eamon] Ryan were supportive of the establishment of the commission and are supportive of the work it is doing not only on the referendum but on the future of housing in Ireland.” He said that if Mr O’Broin had any information, he should bring it forward.
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